On the fertile land next to the Volta river, a single drumbeat drifts through the dense west African forest, calling the women of Ensuoso to the Mothers Against Malaria meeting.

"We've learnt a lot," says Christiana Pokuaa, the village representative for the Mothers Against Malaria club. "We used to think malaria was caused by eating unripe mangoes or staying out in the sun too long.

"Now, we know it's from mosquitoes that breed in poor sanitary environments when water collects in pools and empty tins are thrown away by us."

The Mothers Against Malaria club is part of the new FHI360 and GlaxoSmithKline community malaria project. The aim of the project is to reach the most remote and resource-constrained communities and provide them with training on how to prevent malaria and identify its symptoms.

The programme also distributes chemically treated mosquito nets, as prevention is important in remote areas where access to medicine is difficult.

"The nearest town is six hours away. The roads are bad and there are no vehicles, so we have to take a motorbike or go by bicycle," says Pokuaa. "But we have to go, even if we are pregnant. Some people have had miscarriages, but we have no choice."

The difficulty in supplying medication to remote places such as Ensuoso and surrounding communities is that there is no outlet with which to do so, as it is mainly a subsistence community.

But perhaps this will change as the modern world closes in. Global brands have a growing presence in the village. A few Guinness bottles and rusting Coca‑Cola cans lie under a tree; the children wear used Arsenal and Manchester City football kits; and, as the Mothers Against Malaria club meeting gets under way, a youth's hand rises above the crowd to film the meeting on his mobile phone.